Elite Gymnastics

Elite Gymnastics

After reading some Hipster Runoff posts about chillwave early last year, Minneapolis-based electronic-pop duo Elite Gymnastics decided it would be funny to slap a picture of bikini-clad surfer girls on the cover of their self-released Real Friends EP and call their website Psychedelic Surf Club. But anyone expecting to hear laid-back, beach-friendly tunes from this pair is in for a surprise. Instead, Elite Gymnastics make intensely varied, uptempo, and largely sample-based tracks that draw upon everything from jungle and house to Waka Flocka Flame and Korean pop music.

James Brooks, 27, and Josh Clancy, 24, started casually making music on a laptop together in 2008, and have put out a handful of self-released EPs on their Tumblr in the last year, along with a 34-minuted mix called ALL WE FUCKING CARE ABOUT IS KPOP WHITEHOUSE AND OUR CATS. Their forthcoming 12" Ruin is a gussied-up compilation of previously released EPs Ruin 1 and Ruin 2, and it's out early next month via Acéphale. We recently spoke with Brooks and Clancy about feminism, Lil B, K-pop, and "Mad Men" GIFs.

"Korean pop feels like the future. And considering how much Western music is obsessed with the past, that's refreshing for us."

Pitchfork: What's the deal with your love of K-pop?

James Brooks: We used to limit our listening habits by genre but, in the last ten years, people that like indie rock started listening to rap music and taking Top 40 pop seriously as art. It's really exciting to see how people have become a lot more open-minded about things, and I think the next big wall we're going to start getting past is the language barrier.

There are a lot of English lyrics sprinkled throughout Korean or Japanese pop, but that's not for the benefit of English speakers. There's no crossover K-pop hit; they're not doing that for us. They're doing that because they're interested in the interplay between languages. They've broken down that wall within their own musical community and it's really been a creative boon to them. I think that'll eventually happen here; America is way behind the rest of the world as far as recognizing music in other languages as legitimate.

In Korea, hip-hop has got so good in the last couple years. It started out being flatly Western-influenced pop music, but then it became so individual and cool and international. It's one of the only things that's going on in the world musically that feels like the future. And considering how much Western music is obsessed with the past, that's refreshing for us.

Pitchfork: How did you get into K-pop originally?

JB: Well, it was a lot of work, honestly. You have to Google through a bunch of websites that are in other languages and get used to using Google Translate. I keep up with a lot of Korean blogs and LiveJournals; there's a whole community dedicated to it. There are whole communities that are dedicated to anything-- that's a huge reason why we love the internet.

Josh Clancy: We love communities that foster discussion. In America, all major discussion has definitely just taken a shit. It feels very dumbed-down.

JB: I'm not super into 4chan, but it's a well-known example of the kind of thing that is ultimately more constructive and interesting than somebody Tumblr-ing a bunch of pictures of things they bought or girls with unrealistic body types that they'd like to sleep with or beat. We're interested in the weird, wacky, message-board-y sites rather than narcissistic tweeting about what clubs you're going to tonight or posting GIFs of your favorite things from "Mad Men".

"As far as we're concerned, our musical home is the internet-- our points of view, lyrical style, and writing style all come from there."

Pitchfork: What's the music scene like in Minneapolis?

JB: There isn't a scene. I feel like we wouldn't really fit in wherever we lived. We're just really weird people interested in really weird things. We have cats and girlfriends and sometimes we like to go to this torta place because they make really good tortas. As far as we're concerned, our musical home is the internet-- our points of view, lyrical style, and writing style all come from there.

Listen to "Minneapolis Belongs to You" from Ruin:

Pitchfork: On the artwork for your Ruin EPs, you have dedications to 18th century proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and Brandon McCartney, aka rapper Lil B. Are those tongue-in-cheek, or are they legitimate shout-outs?

JB and JC: Totally legit.

JB: We don't do tongue-in-cheek. I love Mary Wollstonecraft; I'm big into feminism. That's of huge, huge, huge importance to me. And Lil B is one of the most important artists on the planet.

Pitchfork: So much of your music seems hyper-referential and clever, but your lyrics can be heartfelt and earnest, too.

JB: In the past, we had a harder time reconciling the cleverness. We're big fans of the KLF and we love that mischievous, deep, wry sense of wit. None of our artwork or music is ever meant to be comedy, but sometimes it's supposed to be witty. It's hard to balance wit and seriousness because a lot of people have trouble taking in both at the same time. Bands like KLF and LCD Soundsystem did a really good job of doing both, though, and we're inspired by them. But it's really difficult to do.